Water level control for swimming pool

ABSTRACT

A valve through which water from a water supply source may be admitted to a swimming pool is located in the throat of the skimmer of the pool beneath a weir pivotally supported at the entrance of the throat and biased in yielding opposition to the flow of water into the skimmer as the water circulating system of the swimming pool is operated to draw water through the skimmer and return it to the pool. The water admitting orifice of the valve is fitted with a shroud which directs the water generally toward the inner side of the weir, and an operating lever arm for the valve is disposed beneath the weir so that the weir, upon being pivotally moved downwardly beyond a predetermined position, will engage the valve control lever and depress it, thus opening the valve to admit water into the pool.

United States Patent [1 1 Whitaker [111 3,837,015 Sept. 24, 1974 WATER LEVEL CONTROL FOR SWIMMING POOL Primary Examiner-Leon G. Machlin [75] Inventor: Brackston T. Whitaker, Tucson,

A i [57] ABSTRACT [73] Assignee: Baker Hydro, Inc., Santa Ana, Calif. A valve through "Y f a Supply I source may be admitted to a swimming pool 15 located 1 Filed! g- 1972 in the throat of the skimmer of the pool beneath a [211 App]. NOJ 280,218 weir pivotally supported at the entrance of the throat and biased in yielding opposition to the flow of water into the skimmer as the water circulating system of the U-S. Cl. wimming pool is operated to draw water through the Illl- Cl G05d F16k E0411 skimmer and return it to the pool. The water admit- Field of Search ting orifice of the valve is fitted with a shroud which 210/ 1 27; 61/26; 137/5 73 directs the water generally toward the inner side of the weir, and an operating lever arm for the valve is dis- References Cited posed beneath the weir so that the weir, upon being UNITED STATES PATENTS pivotally moved downwardly beyond a predetermined 2,739,939 3/1956 Leslie 210 127 Position, will engage the valve control lever and 757 75 8/1956 K f 210/119 press it, thus opening the valve to admit water into the 3,314,543 4/1967 Nash.... 4/172.17 pool. 3,316,934 5/1967 Sowers.... 210/169 X 3,716,873 2 1973 Blum 4 172.17 16 Clam, 4 Drawmg guns 7 x f6 F w 5? A 6v WATER LEVEL CONTROL FOR SWIMMING POOL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is highly desirable that swimming pools be provided with means for replenishing, automatically, water lost from the pool due to evaporation, backflushing of the filter, or splashing of water from the pool onto the surrounding decking as a result of the activity of the swimmers. Since the establishment or maintenance of a predetermined level of liquid in a vessel usually involves a float to monitor the water level and control the liquid admitting valve, it has been found to be inconvenient, and in the case of private swimmingpools, initially expensive, to provide such a float in a location where it will not interfere with theactivities of the swimmers or be subject to unintentional damage by the swimmers, and where it will not bob freely on the surface as the surface is ruffled mildly or violently by the activities of the swimmers, with a possible resulting admission of exce'ss quantities of water.

The need for some type of automatic water level control system is particularly great in the case of private swimming. pools, because supervision of all aspects of maintenance is not likely to be rigidly scheduled, and in addition, the occupants of premises having private swimming pools are frequently absent from the premises for extended periods of time with no greater extent of maintenance than the daily operation of the water circulating and filtering system under the controlof a timer. Therefore, a simple, reliable and inexpensivedevice for maintaining apredetermined water level would be of great advantage to the owner of a private swim.- ming pool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, the pivotally mounted weir in the throat of the skimmer of the swimming pool is utilized as the water level monitoring device for controlling the admission of water into the pool. The valve for admitting water into the pool is located in the base of the throat of the skimmer inwardly from the point of pivotal mounting of the weir. The water emitting orifice of the valve is covered by a slotted shroud which directs the flow of water, when the valve is opened, generally toward the inner or under surface of the weir. An operating lever which is depressible for the purpose of opening the valve extends through the water emitting slot in the shroud and toward the entrance of the throat of the skimmer, so that it will be engaged by the weir when the latter pivots inwardly and downwardly within the throat beyond a predetermined extent.

Because the water admitted into the swimming pool through the valve in the throat of the skimmer is directed toward the inner surface of the weir, the water entering the pool through the valve applies a pressure on the inner surface of the weir which is in opposition to the pressure applied to the opposite or outer surface of the weir as the level of water in the poolis disturbed mildly or violently by the activities of swimmers. In this way the weir is damped to some extent to inhibit or lessen to a significant extent the commonly occurring flapping of the weir as it follows the motions of waves created in the pool.

DESCRIPTION O THE DRAWINGS" I For a complete understanding of the invention, refer ence may be had to the following detailed description to be interpreted in the light of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view through the throat of a skimmer of a swimming pool showing a water admitting valve installed in the skimmer of the pool;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, exploded perspective view showing the valve and its shroud as viewed, from above;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the housing for the valve as viewed from above andthe shroud as viewed from below to reveal their cooperative interengagement components; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded elevational viewof the valving component of the valve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1 the reference numeral 12 designates a part of the wall of the swimming pool which is topped by a coping 14'. At at least one point in the wall of theswimming pool, the wall is cut away below the coping to receive the throat 16 of a skimmer.

An embodiment of a skimmer with which the water level control device in accordance with thepresent invention may be employed, is shown and described in US. Pat. No. 3,567,020 granted Mar. 2, 197] to Brackston T. Whitaker and William 0. Baker. It is a device for collecting floating debris from the surface of a swimming pool and comprises a pit usually containinga strainer and connected to the interior of the pool at the top, but partially below the normally maintained level of water in the pool, by means of a passage called a throat. The pit of the skimmer is connected by piping to the input side of the water circulating and filtering system for. the swimming pool so that water enters the skimmer through the throat, is drawn out of the pit by, the water circulating pump and is then returned to the pool.

At the entrance to the throat there is usually provided a weir which is a pivotally mounted barrier member biased, usually through its own buoyancy, to extend above the water when there is no circulation of water through the skimmer. When water is being circulated through the skimmer the flow of water causes the weir to move inwardly about its pivot toward the pit, the op posite biasing only partially opposing such movement. The result is that the flowing water spills over the upper edge of the weir in a rapid flow at very shallow depth, to create a suction at the entrance to the throat causing floating debris to be drawn through the throat into the pit of the skimmer.

In FIG. 1 the weir is designated by the reference numeral l8 and it is pivotally mounted at its lower edge on a pivot 20 just inside the entrance to the throat 16'. A block of a buoyant material 24, such as expanded polystyrene, is mounted inside the weir 22 and will provide the necessary buoyancy for the weir.

It will be noted that whereas in many instances the upper end of a weir is a surface having a relation to the face of the weir, the exemplary one shown in FIG. 1 has its upper end disposed inobtuse angularity relative to the face of the weir and therefore the upper end of the weir has a relation of acute angularity with the plane of the inner surface of the weir forming a lip. This configuration of the weir provides hydro-dynamic characteristics which have been found to render the weir particularly and unusually effective to produce a very thin layer of flow of water across its upper end at relatively high velocity. The line 22 in FIG. I represents a typical configuration of the surface of the water flowing through the throat of the skimmer from a calm surface condition of the water in the pool, and it will be noted that the level dips or is depressed as it flows across the upper end surface of the weir and across the lip.

The lower surface of the throat 16 of the skimmer is provided with an orifice which receives a valve body 30. Below and in alignment with the valve body 30 is the end of a pipe 32 through which water under pressure is available from any usual source for supplying water to residential and commercial premises. The valve body 30 is coupled to the pipe 32 by means of a coupling sleeve 34. Since it has become a very common practice to use polyvinyl chloride for underground water supply conduits the pipe 32, the valve body 30 and the coupling sleeve 34 are shown in the exemplary embodiment to be made of this material, in which case cement would be used for making the connection between the pipe 32 and the valve body 30 water tight.

Inside the valve body 32 the passage therethrough is constricted as at 36 to provide a frusto-conical shoulder upon which a ball check 38 may seat, to block a reverse flow of water from the swimming pool into the water supply system when there is a failure of water pressure in the system. The valve body 30 is internally threaded to receive a seal bushing 40 which is provided with a circumferential groove below the threaded portion to receive an O-ring 42 for effecting a seal between the inside of the valve body 30 and the outside of the seal bushing 40. The upper end of the bushing 40 includes a downwardly facing frusto-conical shoulder or seat 48.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the closure component of the valve is a cup 44 which may be of plastic or preferably of generally non-corrosive metal, in which is seated a seal 46 of resilient material such as, for example, polyurethene, but which might be of natural or synthetic rubber or any other material suitable for blocking off a flow of water. Surmounting the seal 46 is a bushing 47, and the cup 44, seal 46 and bushing 47 are apertured axially to receive the reduced end portion 49 of an actuator rod 50. The reduction in the diameter of the rod 50 at the end provides a shoulder 51 to seat on the bushing 47. When the reduced end of the rod 50 is fitted into the other three components, it projects from the bottom of the cup 44 and its end may be swaged to clamp the parts together. The valve actuator arm 50 is preferably of corrosion resistant metal, such as stainless steel, and as shown in FIG. 1, it is bent above its point of emergence from the seal bushing 40 to present its free end for engagement by the inner surface of the weir 18 as the weir rocks downwardly toward the bottom of the skimmer throat 16. The exact position of engagement of the rod 50 with the weir 18 may be adjusted by bending the rod 50, as at the point 52.

The combination of the seal cup 44, the seal 46, and the actuator arm 50 is sufficiently light that normal water pressure in the pipe 32 may be expected to effect closure of the valve by pressing the seal 46 into engagement with the shoulder 48 when the actuator arm 52 is not depressed, without requiring an assisting spring, The solid line position of the actuator arm 50 and its closure components 44 and 46 is the closed condition. There is a dotted line as well as a solid line showing of the weir 18 in FIG. I andwhen the water level in the pool falls to a point at which the weir 18, under the influence of a circulation of water through the skimmer, occupies a position such as the dotted line position shown in FIG. I, it will depress the free end of the valve actuator arm 50, rocking the valve cup 44 downwardly to disengage its seal 46 from the shoulder 48, thereby permitting the entry of water into the swimming pool through the valve.

Reference is made again to ball check 38, the function of which has been described as preventing the draining of water from the swimming pool into the water supply system in the event of failure of pressure in that system. It is capable of performing another useful function. If for any reason the actuator rod 50 for the valve should become dislodged from the cup 44, such as, for example, because of defective and insecure attachment of it to the cup during manufacture of the valve, so that escapement or removal of the rod from the cup could occur, water pressure in the supply system could, in the absence of the ball check 38, enter the pool through the axial aperture in the cup 44. This could result, if unnoticed, in overflowing of the pool. However the ball check 38 may be made of a material having a specific gravity such that a flow of water into the pool through the axial orifice in the cup 44 will cause the lifting of the ball check into blocking relation to the orifice in the cup 44, thereby closing the valve to the flow of water into the pool from the duct 40. Also, if for any reason the entire closure component should be removed, the ball check is capable of precluding the escape of water from the valve body by seating against the shoulder 48. A material suitable for forming the ball check 38 is polyurethane, and this material can be formulated to have specific gravities in a wide range, so that a type that will have the desired specific gravity may be chosen.

The valve structure has attachable thereto a shrouding cap designated generally by the reference numeral 60. The function of the shrouding cap 60 is two-fold, namely; to maintain the valve operating rod 50 in the desired position beneath the inner surface of the weir l8 and to direct the flow of water emerging from the valve toward that surface of the weir. As shown in the drawings the shroud 60 is generally dome-shaped and is provided with a slot 62 to cut into its top as well as into its side. lnteriorally of the shroud 60 the slot is bounded by the walls 64, as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, so that water can emerge from the valve only between the walls 64 and through the slot 62 in a direction upwardly as well as laterally relative to the valve, and the slot thus subtends an angle of substantially 90. As shown in FIG. 3, the upper surface of the valve body 40 is provided with lugs 66, three being shown, curved to the peripheral configuration of the top of the valve body 40 and provided with a sloping camming surface 68 facing outwardly. Beneath two of the lugs 66 is a notch or recess 70 in the valve body and beneath the third lug 66 is a notch 69. As shown particularly in FIG. 3 the inside of the base or skirt portion 71 of the shroud 60 is provided with two lugs 72 and a lug 73 having an- 1 gular spacings from one another matching the spacings of the notches 70 and 69 in the valve body. One of the three notches, as specifically shown in dotted outline in FIG. 3, the notch 69, may be longer than the other two, and one of the lugs in the shroud 60, namely the lug 73 may be correspondingly longer than the other two in order that the shroud 60 may be mounted on the valve body 40 in only one position. Any other suitable means for assuring the mounting of the shroud 60 with the 64 facing toward the weir 18 may be employed.

The shroud 60 may be conveniently formed from a thermo plastic material, and a suitable material for this purpose has been found to be a substance commonly called an ABS resin, which is defined as a thermo plastic material consisting of either physical mixtures of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubbers and styrene-butadiene resins or terpolymers of acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene. Such resins may be produced having a wide range of hardnesses, and the material employed for the shroud 60 should be sufficiently resilient or yieldable to enable the shroud 60 to be pressed down over the top of the valve body 40, the skirt portion 71 which contains the lugs 72 and 73 expanding sufficiently to permit the lugs 72 and 73 to be cammed outwardly by the camming surfaces 68 on the lugs 66 of the valve body. The skirt portion 71 of the shroud 60 is preferably provided at one point. such as in alignment with the lug 73 that is opposite the slot 62, with an extension 74 containing a slot 76. A flat-tipped implement such as a screw driver may be inserted into the slot 76 in the extension 74 ofthe skirt 71 to provide leverage in moving the shroud 60 down into position on the valve body 40 with the lugs 72 seated in the notches 70 and the lug 73 seated in the notch 69. The slot 76 in the extension 74 of the skirt 71 may also assist in prying the shroud 60 offthe valve body 40 by insertion of a flat-tipped implement into the slot.

It will be understood that the valve body 40 should be so oriented in relation to the weir 18 of the skimmer that when the shroud 60 is fitted over the valve actuator arm 50 and is locked in position on the valve body 40 the slot 62 will be facing toward the inner surface of the weir 18. Because the valve actuator arm 50 is confined in the slot 62 it is maintained in the desired position with its free end facing directly toward the entrance to the throat 16 of the skimmer.

As previously stated, depression of the free end ofthe actuator 50 of the valve by the weir 18 will cause water to flow from the pipe 32 through the valve and into the throat of the skimmer. Because the valve actuator lever arm 50 rises from the valve within the slot 62 and extends outwardly through the slot it tends to impede the flow of water directly upwardly through the top of the slot 62 so that most of the water entering the throat 16 of the skimmer from the pipe 32 is directed toward the inner surface of the weir 18 a considerable distance from the top or free edge of the weir. Thus the water admitted into the swimming pool through the valve impinges upon the weir in opposition to the forces applied to the outer surface of the weir 18 due to the circulation of water through the skimmer by the circulating pump as well as to disturbances in the form of waves created in the swimming pool by the activitiesof the swimmers. Whereas, the weir in the throat of the skimmer of the swimming pool frequently tends to react vigorously to water disturbances within the pool, with the valve located in the position shown and described herein and with the water entering into the swimming pool through the valve being directed toward the inner surface of the weir the flow of water into the pool tends to damp the weir against free response to the disturbances in the pool, so that in responding to such disturbances the weir does not overreact and admit excessive quantities of water through the valve.

Another advantage resulting from the location of the valve in the throat of the skimmer and on the opposite of the weir from the pool is that it is generally concealed and relatively inaccessible to mischievous tampering.

I claim:

1. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris, of:

a weir moveably mounted in the entrance to the skimmer;

a water supply duct terminating in the entrance to said skimmer inwardly from the inner surface of the weir for admitting water into the pool;

a valve located at the termination of said duct and having an actuating means disposed in the path of movement of said weir for controlling the admission of water from said duct into the pool;

said weir being movable independent of said actuating means over a range of movement in which the water in the pool is above a pre-selected level; and

means controlled by said weir for actuating said valve to cause the admission of water into the pool responsive to movement of the weir below said preselected level. 2. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

said valve has means associated with it for maintaining said actuating means in a predetermined alignment relative to the location of the weir. 3. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

said actuating means is adjustable to vary the relative positions of interengagement between the weir and said actuating means. 4. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris, of;

a water supply duct for admitting water into the pool;

a valve for controlling the admission of water from said duct into said pool having a closure means presentable in the closure position solely by water pressure in said duct;

a weir mounted in the entrance to the skimmer; and

means attached to said closure means and controlled by said weir for causing said closure means in the valve to admit water into the pool responsive to the position of the weir. 5. The combination in accordance with claim 4 wherein:

the admission of water is effected by displacement of said actuating means by the weir and consequent displacement of the closure means from its closure position by the attached actuating means. 6. The combination in accordance with claim 4 wherein:

said valve includes a second closure means effective to preclude a flow of water from said swimming pool into said duet under the circumstance that water pressure in said duct falls below the gravitational pressure of water above said valve.

7. The combination in accordance with claim 6 wherein:

the valve communicates with the duct through a passage having a circular cross section; and

said second closure means is a ball having a diameter exceeding the diameter of at least a portion of said passage and adapted to seat on said portion.

8. The combination in accordance with claim 7 wherein:

the ball has a specific gravity such that upon failure as well as upon absence of the first mentioned closure means the ball will in the presence of water pressure in said duct move into position to block the admission of water into said pool.

9. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris, of:

a weir mounted in the entrance to the skimmer;

a water supply duct terminating in the entrance to said skimmer inwardly from the inner surface of the weir;

a valve for controlling the admission of water from said duct into the entrance to the skimmer;

means controlled by said weir for actuating said valve to cause the admission of water responsive to the position of the weir; and

means associated with said valve for directing toward the weir the water admitted through the valve.

10. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein:

the means for directing water toward the weir comprises a shrouding cap attachable to said valve and having a slot oriented toward the weir.

11. The combination in accordance with claim 10 wherein:

said actuating means for the valve emerges from the shrouding cap and has a portion confined in said slot and is thereby aligned predeterminedly relative to the weir.

12. The combination in accordance with claim 11 wherein the slot in the shrouding cap subtends an angle of substantially having one of'its sides directed toward the entrance to the skimmer throat and having its other side directed toward the top of said throat.

13. The combination in accordance with claim 11 wherein:

said valve and shrouding cap have cooperative interengagement components limiting to a single orientational relationship the attachment of said cap to the valve.

14. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris equipped with a pivotally mounted weir in the entrance to the skimmer, of:

a water supply duct;

a valve body associated with the duct in terminating relation thereto and positioned inwardly of the skimmer entrance relative to the pivotal mounting of the weir;

a displaceable closure member contained in said valve body for controlling the admission of water from the duct into the skimmer entrance;

a control member associated with said closure member and having a portion presentable in a position to be engaged by said weir and through said engagement to effect water-admitting displacement of said closure member; and

a cap removably associated with said valve body having means for maintaining said control member in position to be engaged by the weir and for directing the flow of water admitted by said closure member generally toward the weir.

15. The combination in accordance with claim 14 including a second closure member contained in said valve body for precluding a backflow of water from the skimmer entrance into said duct.

16. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein said actuating means is an arm extending laterally from said valve and is pivoted by said weir to open said valve. 

1. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris, of: a weir moveably mounted in the entrance to the skimmer; a water supply duct terminating in the entrance to said skimmer inwardly from the inner surface of the weir for admitting water into the pool; a valve located at the termination of said duct and having an actuating means disposed in the path of movement of said weir for controlling the admission of water from said duct into the pool; said weir being movable independent of said actuating means over a range of movement in which the water in the pool is above a pre-selected level; and means controlled by said weir for actuating said valve to cause the admission of water into the pool responsive to movement of the weir below said pre-selected level.
 2. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein: said valve has means associated with it for maintaining said actuating means in a predetermined alignment relative to the location of the weir.
 3. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein: said actuating means is adjustable to vary the relative positions of interengagement between the weir and said actuating means.
 4. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris, of; a water supply duct for admitting water into the pool; a valve for controlling the admission of water from said duct into said pool having a closure means presentable in the closure position solely by water pressure in said duct; a weir mounted in the entrance to the skimmer; and means attached to said closure means and controlled by said weir for causing said closure means in the valve to admit water into the pool responsive to the position of the weir.
 5. The combination in accordance with claim 4 wherein: the admission of water is effected by displacement of said actuating means by the weir and consequent displacement of the closure means from its closure position by the attached actuating means.
 6. The combination in accordance with claim 4 wherein: said valve includes a second closure means effective to preclude a flow of water from said swimming pool into said duct under the circumstance that water pressure in said duct falls below the gravitational pressure of water above said valve.
 7. The combination in accordance with claim 6 wherein: the valve communicates with the duct through a passage having a circular cross section; and said second closure means is a ball having a diameter exceeding the diameter of at least a portion of said passage and adapted to seat on said portion.
 8. The combination in accordance with claim 7 wherein: the ball has a specific gravity such that upon failure as well as upon absence of the first mentioned closure means the ball will in the presence of water pressure in said duct move into position to block the admission of water into said pool.
 9. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris, of: a weir mounted in the entrance to the skimmer; a water supply duct terminating in the entrance to said skimmer inwardly from the inner surface of the weir; a valve for controlling the admission of water from said duct into the entrance to the skimmer; means controlled by said weir for actuating said valve to cause the admission of water responsive to the position of the weir; and means associated with said valve for directing toward the weir the water admitted through the valve.
 10. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein: the means for directing water toward the weir comprises a shrouding cap attachable to said valve and having a slot oriented toward the weir.
 11. The combination in accordance with claim 10 wherein: said actuating means for the valve emerges from the shrouding cap and has a portion confined in said slot and is thereby aligned predeterminedly relative to the weir.
 12. The combination in accordance with claim 11 wherein the slot in the shrouding cap subtends an angle of substantially 90* having one of its sides directed toward the entrance to the skimmer throat and having its other side directed toward the top of said throat.
 13. The combination in accordance with claim 11 wherein: said valve and shrouding cap have cooperative interengagement components limiting to a single orientational relationship the attachment of said cap to the valve.
 14. The combination with a swimming pool having a skimmer for skimming-off floating debris equipped with a pivotally mounted weir in the entrance to the skimmer, of: a water supply duct; a valve body associated with the duct in terminating relation thereto and positioned inwardly of the skimmer entrance relative to the pivotal mounting of the weir; a displaceable closure member contained in said valve body for controlling the admission of water from the duct into the skimmer entrance; a control member assoCiated with said closure member and having a portion presentable in a position to be engaged by said weir and through said engagement to effect water-admitting displacement of said closure member; and a cap removably associated with said valve body having means for maintaining said control member in position to be engaged by the weir and for directing the flow of water admitted by said closure member generally toward the weir.
 15. The combination in accordance with claim 14 including a second closure member contained in said valve body for precluding a backflow of water from the skimmer entrance into said duct.
 16. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein said actuating means is an arm extending laterally from said valve and is pivoted by said weir to open said valve. 